RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 126 AD in Colonia, Sextus is a bath house owner and sculptor famous for his phallic figurines. A follower of Bacchus, he caroused across dimensions to celebrate Saturnalia in search of new models for his exquisite statues.
Born 333 AD in Nemausus, Erana transformed her estate into a beacon of hope following a devastating Vandal invasion that claimed her sight and her first husband. Alongside her second husband, former stablemaster and freed slave, she founded the Institute for the Blind and Animal Rehabilitation where those robbed of their vision walk the road to recovery by tending to orphaned and wounded animals.
Born 125 AD in Emerita Augusta, Mads is an ancestor of Ferdinand Magellan and a former slave who, after being released from servitude on a Roman quinquereme, became an interdimensional explorer and the first ancient citizen to visit hedonistic late 20th century AD.
Born in 181 AD in Osaka, Ojin was a Samurai sent on an intelligence gathering mission to Rome who decided to stay and join the Roman legion in the fight against the rising Vampire and Zombie menace in Dacia.
Born in 144 BC in Gordion, Morys, a blacksmith, and his brother Pierpont, an accountant, were enslaved by the Romans and forced into gladiator combat. Morys was shipped off to an alternate dimension, dedicating his life to return and watch over his younger sibling.
Born in 250 AD in Nicomedia, Galerius was a celebrated general in a Decopunk alternate universe. His life changed drastically in 303 AD when revolutionaries inspired by ‘Roma’ Luxemburg set fire to the imperial palace, trapping him inside. Severely disfigured and presumed dead, Galerius survived, later re-emerging as the enigmatic ‘Phantom of Nicomedia.’ Now veiled in scars, he operates from the shadows, engaging in McCarthyesque methods and experimenting with emergent time travel technology in a vain attempt to undo the tragic events that reshaped his destiny.
Born in 2050 AD in Neo-Volubilis, Juba is a bartender who runs a tiki bar at an opulent luxury resort in Neo-Carthage. Outside of crafting cocktails, he secretly supports cloned Hannibal Barca’s rebellion by providing access to their subterranean rebel base through a hidden entrance under the hotel pool.
Born 2 AD in Teotihuacan, Totec is a legendary Aztec gladiator whose undefeated reign spans centuries, defying time and mortality. Enigmatic and Methuselean, they are the champion of a technologically advanced Aztec civilization under Roman dominion. Totec’s countless victories in blood-soaked arenas have inspired a generation of Mesoamericans to rise against the Empire during the chaotic reign of Commodus.
Born in 162 AD in Olisipo, Tuouta led a contubernium that was believed to be lost at sea when in fact their ship was sucked through an interdimensional portal, placing them in the Gulf of Mexico where they befriended a technologically advanced Aztec society.
Born 22 BC in Colonia, a soldier and concubine of Arminius, Avis’ army detachment was overrun by hordes of the walking dead after massacring Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.
Born 121 BC in Jutland, Cindi was a defiant warrior captured and enslaved by Gaius Marius at the Battle of Vercellae. Refusing to submit to concubinage, she was dispatched to an atomic age alternate dimension where she toils as a scullery maid and comfortess in a high-altitude air cruise liner zeppelin.
Born 311 AD in Mediolanum, in a steampunk parallel universe, Gnaeus is a wealthy industrialist who schemes to undermine the corrupt Emperor Constantius II by providing dirigibles and steam chariots to the burgeoning Aztec Empire so that they may reclaim the western hemisphere from the grip of Roman hegemony.
Born 61 AD in Fife, Mac was captured by Agricola’s troops at the Battle of Mons Graupius and dispatched to Mauritania by Emperor Domitian as a slave farmer. While toiling in the fields, he discovered an interdimensional portal which he used to escape to an alternate 20th century in which the Roman Empire remains unvanquished. Now he operates a chariot harvester on a commercial wheat farm.
Born 397 AD in Sirmium, Exene was a war child who spent her youth on the battlefield where she met her husband Alaviv. Together they sacked and pillaged Africa with Genseric’s army until the king, feeling his rule threatened, exiled her through an interdimensional portal to the 20th century.
Born 2114 AD in Rome, not much is known about Galla other than she is a dimension hopping cyber-mercenary who dismantles empires through time targeted assassinations.
Bookmark the RomanPunks Y.at page for quick access to all our links:
© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
